Hallucinations
by carryonmycastiel
Summary: Lucifer likes to play mindgames with Castiel. Set right after 7x17; Destiel one-shot.


_**A/N: **This is set just after 7x17. I was planning on writing happy porn, but what came out was a depressing pile of angst and sadness. ...Enjoy?_

Dean entered the room, looking around at the too-white walls, the bright buzzing light in the middle of the ceiling, the painting above the bed where a dead-eyed patient sat, hands folded in his lap and mouth set in a firm line.

He shut the door quietly behind himself, "Cas?"

The man sitting on the bed didn't move, just kept staring blankly at the wall as if Dean wasn't there. He tried again, "Castiel."

Dean heard the sound of crickets chirping outside the window, felt the night air blowing in through the cracked-open window. He clenched his jaw, exhaling sharply and moving to sit at the edge of the bed beside Castiel.

"Hey, man, I don't know if you can hear me or not," he furrowed his brow, waving a hand in front of the blue-eyed man's face. Nothing. He sighed, "but I need you to know that we're still fightin' for you. We haven't given up, not for a second. And I know that doesn't mean much to you given, " he gestured awkwardly, "these circumstances, but we're doin' our best. We're gonna get you fixed, and we're gonna get you out of here. Alright?"

The buzzing of the fluorescent light overhead mixed with the sound of crickets. Dean hesitated a moment before reaching out and awkwardly patting Castiel on the knee, "I'm comin' back for you. Soon."

He stood up slowly and crossed to the door, turning around to cast one last look back at the unresponsive angel, "Everything's gonna be okay, Cas. I promise."

With a final drawn-out sigh Dean walked away, blinking hard a few times as he let the door swing shut behind him.

He walked away with a heavy heart, shoulders hunched and jaw clenched.

—-

Castiel, from where he sat with his hands carefully crossed, visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh of frustration and running a hand through his unruly dark hair. He closed his eyes tight, sinking down to lay on the mattress and trying not to think.

Then, suddenly, from the corner of the room, "You know, brother, you're doing him more harm than anything with the whole 'silent treatment' you keep giving him."

Castiel opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling and saying, "I will not speak to him when you are in the room, Lucifer."

"Aww, Cassy, c'mon!" Lucifer pulled a face, appearing next to Castiel with a sly grin, "I would make the conversation _much _more interesting."

"No."

"You're just afraid I'll get you to admit your dirty little secret." Lucifer waggled his eyebrows, eyes glinting. "You can't hide anything from me, Castiel. I'm _inside your head._"

"I am not afraid of you." Castiel stated simply, still staring at the same spot on the ceiling.

Lucifer quirked an eyebrow, smirking malevolently, "Ah, but I do know what you _are _afraid of."

Castiel turned his head to glare at Lucifer, "That is not relev-." he froze mid-sentence, eyes widening in shock as his blue eyes connected with familiar green ones, "Stop."

From where Lucifer sat just moments before was Dean, a petrified look on his face. "Cas?"

The hallucination reached out and caressed Castiel's cheek, green eyes wandering his face incredulously, "Cas, you're okay?"

The angel felt his body go cold, a familiar sense of guilt and dread and terrible longing bubbling in the pit of his stomach, "Lucifer."

"No, Cas," Dean looked crestfallen, "You don't recognize me? I'm Dean. C'mon, man, you gotta remember."

"Lucifer, this isn't funny," Castiel grit out, trembling with rage.

Dean frowned and withdrew his hand from Castiel's cheek, leaning back with a lost look on his face. "You _don't_ remember me."

There was a pause in which Dean's expression went completely solemn, and he put his hand in his pocket, taking out a razor and absently flicking it open. "How could you forget me, Cas?"

"No." Castiel's eyes widened and his heart stopped, "Lucifer, stop this. No."

The light on the ceiling glinted off of the sharp blade, and Dean's eyes scanned it sadly, "I thought you knew me, Cas."

His green eyes flickered up to meet with Castiel's frightened blue, "I thought you loved me."

Without breaking eye contact Dean lifted the razor to his neck, gouging a deep line across it, Castiel's "DEAN!" being cut off by a gargled shriek of pain.

"DEAN!" Castiel yelled again, sitting up and scrambling away from the blood running down Dean's neck, pooling onto the tile floor by the bed, "Stop! Dean! _STOP!_"

As more and more blood ran from the slit on Dean's neck, Castiel kept on screaming for it to stop, thrashing about and crashing down onto the floor with a loud thudding noise. Screams mixed with laughter bubbling out of the dying hallucination's mouth, blood gurgling past those familiar lips and joining the pool gathering on the once-white bedsheets.

Beneath his screaming Castiel dimly noted the sound of a door crashing open and footsteps rushing over to him, one pair of strong hands grabbing his arms and forcing them behind his back, and another pair holding a painful-looking syringe.

Through all the commotion he could only focus on the profusely bleeding man, the blood gurgling past those familiar lips, the light slowly fading out of Dean's eyes. It was only after those strong hands holding him back plunged the syringe into his thrashing form did he begin to settle down, to stop screaming, heart still hammering wildly.

He didn't have time to realize that it was all in his head, all another one of Lucifer's cruel games, before he slipped into unconsciousness, another nightmare awaiting.


End file.
